New Antibiotic Candidate Emerges That Kills ‘Superbugs’ Regardless of Bacterial Type

[Financial News] Domestic researchers have developed a new antibiotic candidate that can eliminate two types of lethal ‘superbugs’ resistant to existing antibiotics at once and reduce inflammation. The development is expected to overcome the limitations of existing treatments, which required different drugs depending on the type of bacteria, and open a new path to treatments for a range of infectious diseases and sepsis.
Konkuk University announced on the 13th that a team led by Professor Kim Yang-mi of its Department of Systems Biotechnology had developed ‘YK-mAK-17,’ an antibiotic candidate that attacks two types of superbugs with different characteristics simultaneously.
Until now, superbugs that cause hospital-acquired infections have been broadly divided according to the structure of their cell surfaces into ‘Gram-negative bacteria’ and ‘Gram-positive bacteria,’ requiring different antibiotics for each type. The research team drew on the finding that a protein from the tuberculosis bacterium recognizes toxic substances on the surfaces of both types of bacteria, and designed a candidate that targets both at once.
Experiments showed that even in very small amounts, the candidate effectively killed two representative, difficult-to-treat superbugs that commonly cause problems in hospitals. In particular, it penetrated the ‘biofilm’—a defensive barrier bacteria form by clumping together to prevent antibiotics from getting through—and eliminated the bacteria.
Another notable feature is that bacteria develop almost no resistance to the drug. The substance uses a multipronged attack: it directly damages bacterial cell membranes while also disrupting energy activity inside the cells. This leaves bacteria no time to adapt to their environment and build up resistance.
Animal experiments also confirmed the candidate’s potential to treat sepsis. When the research team administered it to mice infected with superbugs to induce sepsis, it not only eliminated the bacteria but also suppressed excessive inflammation, producing a clear therapeutic effect.
Professor Kim Yang-mi said, “We hope this candidate, which can target a broad range of multidrug-resistant bacteria and sepsis simultaneously, will lead to the development of an actual new drug in the future and help reduce the threat posed by superbugs.”
The study was conducted with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea National Institute of Health. Professor Kim served as the corresponding author, and master’s students Lee Chae-young, Cho Hyun-jun and Jung Jun-ho participated as co-first authors. The results were published online on the 9th in an international journal in the field of medicinal chemistry.

[email protected] Kim Man-gi Reporter